January Already?

I can’t believe it’s already January! 5 months left to go! I’ve been waiting for the new year knowing that once it came, time would go by so fast. Now that it is here, I have mixed emotions. I’m stressed about my project and am not sure that I will have enough time to do all the things I want to accomplish. The pressure is on with only 3 months left of school and that includes provincial sport meet, Dustin’s wedding, and hopefully a visit from Papa and Carolyn. Although stressful, it’s been nice since I’ve been back. I feel so comfortable here – more and more it feels like I am coming home when I am away for awhile and I always get a sense of relief when I can get back to my own room and things and just relax. Maybe I feel so positive about my site because I just got back from vacation but people know me here, they are comfortable around me, and seem happy when I am come home after being away so long. I really do like it here and each day I act a little more and more like myself. All this makes me a little sad thinking about leaving my family and friends here. All anyone seems to talk about these days is that I will be leaving soon, how they will miss me, when I’ll come back, or maybe that I can just stay and marry a Filipino. There is absolutely no chance in that (and I definitely do not entertain that idea). It’s a little bittersweet – sad as I am going to be, I will be so happy when I can put this experience behind me and move on to the next thing. I won’t lie, even with all my vacations to exotic places and the great diving, it’s been hard! And I know once it is all finished I will have such a huge sense of accomplishment and relief. I can’t wait for that feeling!
Overall, my mood is pretty good right now which is great because sometimes I come back after a vacation and feel low. This past vacation was great – almost too great – and I am in need of some rest. I didn’t come directly back to site after my vacation – I was able to have a day and a half in Manila to transition. I was feeling tired and run down, a little depressed, and dreading the end of my time with other westerners – all the great conversation, delicious food, freedom to do what I want and when I want, feeling comfortable acting completely like myself all the time – the usual highlights of our times together. I also made a new friend on my trip. She is traveling around the SE Asia for the next month before going to Thailand to work with sex workers for three months, and then plans to continue her trip until her money runs out. She is doing this all through couch surfing. I had never heard of it before but it sounds great. You basically sign up on a network of people all over the world that are willing to meet up with travelers. Some will offer a place to sleep, others will meet you out for coffee or dinner. She has had a great experience so far. For starters, she was put up in a nice hotel for 4 days! Then of course she met us – can’t get better than that! We really hit it off and I am planning to join her when my service is up. Funny how stressed I was before about finding a travel partner – I wanted to travel but not alone (because of safety issues). And now this opportunity has just fallen upon me. Things always seem to work out in the end don’t they? So it was hard parting with her and my other friends, but surprisingly when I got back to Lamut, I was ready to start work, happy to see everyone, and quite at home. I did have a short down period after I went to the post office and saw that there were still no Christmas packages! Don’t worry, my letter from Aunt Sally took almost 3 weeks and that was just a letter. I think there are just too many things coming in from the US because of the holiday. I’ll let you know as soon as I get them.
Many of you probably want to know details of what I’ve been up to this past month. I haven’t been so great at keeping in touch or writing emails – I haven’t been around a computer in weeks. So if you want more information keep reading….I’ll give you a probably too detailed account of what’s been going on.
So….as most of you know, I had dengue at the beginning of the month and hung out in the hospital for 5 days. A couple weeks later, I went with 2 volunteers to Manila to help with a tour group of 30 15 year-old Korean students. They came here for a short vacation and the 3 of us, along with 2 other Filipinas, were in charge of speaking English with them so they could practice with native speakers. They put us up in a nice hotel for 4 nights. Each day we had breakfast at the hotel, went to a different tourist site, ate dinner at a Korean restaurant, and came back to the hotel for small group English classes. It was quite the experience. I imagined it to be a breeze – free food, hotel lodging, a chance to see places I’d never been to – saying it was hard would be an understatement. We didn’t really know our roles in the program and I felt like tag a long most of the time. It was a bit awkward and stressful. I wanted to know what I was supposed to be doing and even take charge a bit. Instead, we weren’t informed of anything and most of the time just followed them around without a clue. The students were very demanding and by the end of the trip many of them were sick so they were complaining a lot. To make it worse, I was still feeling rough, not fully rested from my stint in the hospital, and I had insomnia the week before. We did get to see some cool places – Pansanjan Falls and a nice hot spring resort. We also ate Korean food every day for lunch and dinner. It was amazing! Finally some food with flavor! I bonded with some of the students and feel like I learned a bit about their culture. I don’t think I’d ever do it again, but I don’t regret the experience. And at least I had Jill with me to suffer through it all 
I came back to Lamut for Christmas (just barely made it as all the buses out of Manila were fully booked for days. We managed to be “chance passengers” which meant putting on a sad pathetic face and hoping the driver took pity on us – in our case it worked – at that point it wasn’t hard to look sad tired and desperate to leave that city)
For Christmas we did our usual – cooked a lot of food, went to mass at 10pm, and then all got together to eat, drink and sing videoke until the wee hours of the night. I made waldorf salad and this time I wasn’t the only one to eat what I cooked! Mama Zonya gave me a shirt – black satin halter neck so I could look “sexy” next time I go on vacation. I was so touched – it really was just my style and fit perfectly. She really does know me now. She also came home with this cinnamon bread ring that looked a lot like a Swedish tea ring. I couldn’t believe it! It was like she knew Mom bakes one every Christmas and that I was craving one for Christmas breakfast. It was a great time again this year. I finally drank openly in front of my entire family –wine, gin, whisky - enough to admit to everyone I was drunk and go off to one of my cousins about how surprisingly direct Filipinos can be (it was right after she told me my hair looked dry, I had many split ends, it was nicer when I first arrived, and that I really needed a haircut – I think my comments were much deserved). We stayed up until about 4 or 5 drinking and singing and eating more “salads” (any combination of weird things mixed in mayonnaise, cream, sugar, and bits of processed cheese). I slept away half of Christmas day but woke up feeling much better this year – I didn’t stay in bed the whole day moping and talking on the phone. I didn’t leave the house but I was in a good mood and happy with my company. At night, Mama Z made me an early birthday dinner. She bought me cake, fried chicken, and gave me another beautiful shirt. I am totally spoiled.
After family celebrations, I headed to the Visayas – starting with a 10 hour bus ride to Manila. I flew out on the 27th and met up with some friends in Iloilo. A very funny thing happened to me on the plane. I met this Filipino man who had lived in the US for over 25 years. He came back to visit family after being away 10 years. After talking throughout the whole flight, he offered to give me a ride to the pension house. I declined but at the baggage claim saw that a group of about 5 or 6 people – women, men, and children – came to meet him. They insisted they give me a ride so I went ahead and joined them. On the way, they said they had to stop by the house and drop off some things. I was a bit nervous – not of them, but that maybe this could end up being a long night. My flight was already 1 ½ hours delayed and I had friends meeting me in town. So we stopped by the house, they invited me in, and introduced me to the family. They also brought out the family photo album, and offered me dinner. Luckily, we didn’t stay long and they took me to the pension house. They didn’t just drop me off, but got out of the car to check the place out and make sure it was safe for me……no one would guess I only knew one of them for little over 3 hours. We said our goodbyes like we have known each other for years. That’s Filipino hospitality!
On my birthday I headed to Roxas, my friend Erin’s site, and to celebrate we bought some wine, went to the beach, and had a feast of seafood. Her town is essentially the seafood capital of the Philippines so I had to jump at the opportunity to indulge. It was a complete birthday - we even had cake! Later, we ended up at a videoke bar and had a few beers.
The 29th was the start of a 5 day stint in Boracay – an island with a long strip of white sand beaches and resorts, restaurants, bars stretched across about 4km. There were about 30 or so of us in and out – I stayed the whole time. We most of our days on the same schedule – wake up around 12, get some food, lay on the beach until happy hour, drink pina coladas til dinner, then out for good music and dancing. The place really is paradise. It’s so beautiful – the longest stretch of white beach in the country. There is every kind of food imaginable – Indian, thai, german, Mexican –they even have a deli! And the people there! So many attractive people from all over the world. I spent a lot of my time just watching them. The five days are pretty much a daze – a wonderful daze. A couple of times we stayed out until the next day, waited for the sun to come up, and stumbled home when many were waking up. Once again, I did not come home without hurting myself. It seems I always get sick or hurt every time I go some place. This time I broke my toe. I was running back to the pension and hit it on the side of the fence. It didn’t hurt too bad – I was able to hobble down to dinner and out for New Year’s Eve. But that night someone accidentally stepped on it and the pain really set in then. One of my friends was so sweet – he carried me on his back to a chair where another friend taped up my foot with electrical tape. Another piggy back ride and I was sitting in a chair watching all my friends dance. I couldn’t take it so I had some one help me out to join the group. With a little help and carefulness on my part not to get stepped on, I had a great night. And for the next few days I was still able to limp around and get to where I wanted to be. It still hurts and I think it will take a month or so to recover from. Apparently there is nothing I can do about it so I’m just ignoring it and hoping one day Ill wake up and it will all be better. I could go on forever about this trip but I don’t want to bore you with the details. It’s always better in my mind…..
I’m so glad I went. I wasn’t planning on it – they say it’s like the Cancun of the Philippines. Having not gone to Cancun, I had not interest. I expected it to be super touristy and annoying. Instead it was really chill – tons of people but so relaxing.
I gotta end this never ending blog…hope you made it to the end.
I hope you all had a great holiday. Next year Ill be with all of you! I love and miss you all

Eva